New Bern considers extending ETJ along U.S. 70

Wednesday

New Bern is considering extending its extra-territorial jurisdiction, or “ETJ,” along the U.S. 70 commercial corridor in the James City area to spark business development.

New Bern is considering extending its extra-territorial jurisdiction, or “ETJ,” along the U.S. 70 commercial corridor in the James City area to spark business development.

Extending the ETJ would enable the city to implement its zoning regulations and codes in the affected area. It also could mean improving the city sewer service in the area.

During a Board of Aldermen work session Tuesday evening, Mike Epperson, city manager, said there have been discussions between the city and county about the city extending its sewer system from the Trent River to Garner Road so more businesses could locate along the corridor.

A public hearing would have to be held before the city could extend the ETJ.

Jordan Hughes, city engineer, said the current sewer system was at capacity and would not handle new development.

The city took over the sewer system from the county years ago, Epperson said.

Phase one of the proposal includes a sewer step-system transfer pump station that would free up the system for more users. The pump station would allow some of the step-system sewer customers to transfer their service to a gravitational system, Hughes said.

The system also would provide more capacity for an area southeast beyond Garner Road to Fisher Road for the county. It is in that area developers would have to enter into a standard user agreement that requires them to petition the city for annexation to hook onto the sewer system.

Hughes said after the meeting the city is not anticipating annexing property in James City and is just opening the sewer capacity in that area.

The second phase would be a long-term project. As development in the area increases, it would require expansion of a retention basin behind the city’s Kale Road property, an increase in the size of the pump and a force main to connect the corridor to the city’s wastewater facility. That proposal has already been designed, but phase two would depend on development in the area, Hughes said.

The city would look for financial help from the county to begin phase one, he said.

Epperson said the phase one lift station would open up development in Craven County, and although there is no desire on the county’s part to be annexed by the city, the county should pay for the service, he said.

In response to a question from Alderman Dana Outlaw, Epperson said there would be some cost involved, like with zoning, but if the county pays for phase one, it would be a benefit for everyone.

Outlaw asked if someone had a parcel of land within the proposed ETJ would they be able to build a duplex or would they have to conform to a single-family dwelling.

Hughes said the city’s policy would limit sewer connections within the ETJ to a single-family parcel. Areas outside the proposed ETJ would keep their current policies, he said.

There are very few residential properties within the proposed ETJ and they would not be affected by the ETJ, Epperson said.

Alderman Denny Bucher said there have been three or four meetings between the city and county about the ETJ and a lot of thought has gone into it.

Bucher said James City will probably always be in the unincorporated part of the county and he didn’t think the city had any interest in annexing it.

“The people there don’t want to be annexed,” he said. “But I think we all drive through there. We kind of just accept it is what it is, but it’s not very nice. There’s building with roofs caved in. There’s burned out buildings, and no new development is going to happen there and it’s just going to get worse … if we don’t come up with a plan.”

To a lot of people and particularly visitors, that corridor is part of New Bern, Bucher said.

“It’s amazing to me at this point how many people I know who live in the city say ‘why don’t you get that cleaned up?” he said. “Why do you guys allow that to look the way it looks?”

But it’s not the city, it’s the county and the county has no zoning, Bucher said.

“They have no requirements,” he said. “You can put any building by any building. You can put a house beside a fish market or whatever you want to do. There’s no requirement on landscaping et cetera, et cetera. I think it is important to our whole metropolitan area of the city New Bern that we address this if we can.”

Bucher said the area was “a negative right now” for people who might want to visit or retire to places like Carolina Colours and Taberna.

“It would be positive from a real estate standpoint or residential standpoint as well and commercial standpoint, I think, there are a lot of pluses here if we can pull it off,” he said.

Epperson said the commercial corridor was not about the residents of James City but they would benefit as much as residents of Taberna and Carolina Colours with services that will be provided with new development.

Eddie Fitzgerald can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at eddie.fitzgerald@newbernsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @staffwriter3.

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